Apple Disk Encryption (i.e. FileVault) is a built-in full disk encryption software that can add another layer of protection to your data, but only if you know the tricks to use it properly. This blog post will teach you 6 best practices in order to improve Apple Disk Encryption on your Mac.
1. Use a strong passphrase for your Apple disk encryption
A strong passphrase is the most important aspect of using Apple disk encryption. A weak password can be cracked in minutes, or even seconds, so it’s better to use a longer and more complex one. Here are some tips on how to create a good passphrase:
Use at least 12 characters long (8+ characters if you’re using FileVault
2) with numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and spaces. Don’t use words that are found in any dictionary or your favorite song lyrics. Add random punctuation marks like !?&*()_+#@$%^&*-! Avoid patterns like [email protected] or [email protected] Use a passphrase you can remember but no one else will figure out. Even if your computer is encrypted, your files are not completely secure from prying eyes. Your account password is still vulnerable to brute-force attacks. A strong password should be long enough that it takes years of computing power to crack the encryption using brute force methods. It’s recommended to use passwords longer than 12 characters for maximum security.
Use a different password for every service
You should never use the same password on multiple services because if one of them gets hacked, they all get compromised and you don’t want that to happen. If you think remembering many different passwords is hard, then consider using a Password Manager like 1Password . It ‘s a free app for Mac, iOS and Windows and it’s very easy to use.
Use 1Password to generate random passwords
1Password can be used to generate secure passwords which are very hard to crack. It has a Password Generator accessible from the Tools menu in the menu bar. You should avoid using any of the default settings because they’re not that secure. Instead, you should enable Strong Password Generator and choose an option that includes uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and symbols (the more symbols the better). The following screenshot shows an example:
Using 1Password to create secure passwords
After you click on Save , you’ll see a password like this (the one in my screenshot is fake): !j-3A 3W-FzV!e .
You can see that it’s difficult to remember, but 1Password uses a feature called Master Password (also known as Keychain) to store your passwords and automatically fill them when you log in. You’ll need to use the extension on all your devices, so if you’re not yet convinced about using it, you should read this article by Jason Snell about how he stores his passwords: “How I organize my digital life with 1Password”.
The next step is to install the Firefox add-on :
It will ask for your master password once and then it will show a little icon in the toolbar. When you click on it, you’ll see options like these:
1Password Options The first option is to generate a new password and copy it to the clipboard. This is great for when you need to create a new password for a website or app but you don’t want to use the same one everywhere.
I like using LastPass as my Password Manager, so I installed the Firefox extension . It has an icon in the toolbar that looks like this:
Lastpass icon The icon will show up whenever there’s something in your list that matches what’s on your screen (e.g., if you’re on Amazon, it’ll show an Amazon icon). If there’s nothing in your list that matches what you’re looking at, then it’ll just be a “L” as shown above. When you click on it, it will pop up a window that contains what you have in your list and lets you choose which one to use.
Then, for each site or app, you can set up an icon and a keyword so you can easily remember how to get to it. So if I want “Amazon” in my LastPass vault, I click the “Add new entry” button on the bottom of the popup window:
Adding an entry I give it a name (e.g., Amazon), then choose which sites/apps this applies to (I only have Amazon entries so far). Then I click Save .
Saving an entry Now when I’m on Amazon looking at stuff and want to log in using LastPass instead of typing my password, all I have to do is click the LastPass icon in my status bar.
Then I see this popup:
LastPass login screen Clicking on “Log in with LastPass” takes me to a new tab where I’m already logged in as myself, and all I need to do is enter my master password for Amazon (or whatever site/service it’s for).
And that’s it! Now all my online accounts are safely stored in one place, and there are no more annoying passwords to remember.
Create a recovery key
People can be careless and a lot of the time. You don’t want to be the person forgetting important items so what are you going to do? Create a recovery key. Recovery key is your solution, and you will feel much better knowing that there is a backup. This key will allow you to recover all of your passwords in case they get lost or forgotten. It will also help solve company mission-critical data loss and emergency recovery management. The recovery key is a security feature that you can use to protect your computer. It will allow you to recover all of your passwords in case they get lost or forgotten. It will also help solve company mission-critical data loss and emergency recovery management. But, what if the computer has been stolen? Don’t worry, because it offers additional protection features such as BitLocker Drive Encryption that helps protect the Windows startup process and encrypts entire drives on the hard disk drive.
With all of these features, this is an excellent product for any user out there looking for a reliable password management software program. The interface may take some getting used to but overall it is easy to navigate through and understand how everything works. The backup options are great and the encryption features will help keep your passwords safe.